The economic recovery bill, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, includes more than $100 Billion for the U.S. Department of Education. That’s less than the original House bill asked for, but more than twice last year’s federal education funding, as the Alliance for Excellent Education reports.

President Bush's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal includes $2.8 billion in cuts to programs that impact children—a 3 percent drop from last year's federal budget. First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization, takes a reader-friendly look at the numbers and what they say about our nation's priorities.

In Tulare County, California, residents are breathing -- not to mention working, learning and playing -- a little easier after a coalition of concerned families pushed for regulations that create a quarter-mile buffer zone between pesticide spraying and schools, residential neighborhoods, preschools and farm labor camps. This Grassroots Snapshot from the Children’s Advocate has the scoop on their success.

2008 was a year that saw war, violence, human rights abuses and environmental degradation, WireTap also found powerful examples of young people making a real difference.

You may know Dr. Susan B. Neuman as the apostate former Bush administration official who publicly opposes No Child Left Behind in its current form and has made headlines by arguing that schools alone cannot close achievement gaps. But Neuman has received less attention for her affirmative vision of what we can do to improve poor students' odds dramatically—she shares her vision with Claus von Zastrow in this Public School Insights interview (with audio).

Concerned that young people were increasingly disconnected from the real (read: natural) world, actress and teacher Barbara Sarbin turned a county farm into a hands-on Earth School. Here’s a look at how she did it.

Engaging young teens in quality out-of-school time programs is no easy feat. Cypress Hills-East New York, a Beacon Center located in Brooklyn, has developed a strategy for recruiting and enrolling youth ages 9 to 14 for its school-year program. What works best? The Youth Development Institute shares some of the secrets of success.

In California, the journey from parent to activist starts at home: the Los Angeles Community Action Network won a citywide law to preserve affordable housing in residential hotels targeted for luxury development.

At the end of 2008, child advocates across the country quietly cheered some successes in Congress—including significant reform to the child welfare system—while raising concerns about a setback that may leave many homeless children without services they need.

Texas graduation rates haven't improved much in over 20 years. In fact, the 2008 Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) study finds that Texas schools lose one high school student every four minutes—that's one-third of the state's students. So what would it take to get to a drop out rate of zero? IDRA's Grad4All looks at what can work, and how adults can get involved to make sure more students in Texas and across the country graduate on time and with the skills they need to succeed.